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An elite American rock climber has become the first to climb alone to the top of the massive granite wall known as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes or safety gear.

National Geographic documented Alex Honnold's historic ascent, saying the 31-year-old completed the "free solo" climb over the weekend in nearly four hours.

A photo on the magazine's website shows a grinning Mr Honnold wearing just a pair of black pants after reaching the summit.

The climb up 3,000-foot (914-meter) El Capitan used to take days to complete with the help of ropes, safety gear and a partner. In the past few decades, speed climbers working in tandem and using ropes have set records in reaching the top of the cliff.

But Mr Honnold is first to climb the iconic rock alone without protection.

Shortly after finishing the ascent, Mr Honnold tweeted a photograph of himself scaling a wide crack along with the caption: “So stoked to realize a life dream today :)”

He said he was only able to achieve the climb without ropes by constantly pushing out of his "comfort zone."

“Years ago, when I first mentally mapped out what it would mean to free solo Freerider, there were half a dozen of pitches where I was like: ‘Oh, that’s a scary move and that’s a really scary sequence, and that little slab, and that traverse,’” he told National Geographic.

“There were so many little sections where I thought ‘Ugh – cringe.’ But in the years since, I’ve pushed my comfort zone and made it bigger and bigger until these objectives that seemed totally crazy eventually fell within the realm of the possible.”